Petroleum Issues

by Harry P. Schlanger 8 July, 2008

According to Russian-Ukrainian theory, petroleum is "abiotic" - a non-biological material of deep origin that erupts upwards into the lower crust of the Earth. If this is true, then petroleum is not a fossil fuel; has no intrinsic connection with biological debris in the sediments; and is continuously abundant.

In January of this year, London's Times Online reported that the world is far from running out of oil. "The oil market is driven by human factors, not geology," say Industry experts.

As head of the the world's largest company, ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson made the mistake of saying at the recent World Energy Congress in Rome that the gas price crisis is the fault of Congress for keeping its underground oceans of oil and its vast gas reserves off limits to development.

Petroleum Reserves are Inexhaustible

According to the Abiotic theory, there are so much available reserves that humans could never exhaust supplies. After a well is exploited, new petroleum from deeper levels in the earth will, in time, percolate slowly upwards. Some twenty years or so later, the resource will be replenished. This means that oil is abundantly supplied from within the earth and not produced from biological product decay.

The conventional theory is that the world is running out of oil. However, there is mounting evidence that the so-called "Peak Oil Theory" is a scarcity myth perpetrated by big oil companies who wish to keep new discoveries quiet, production low, and prices high.

Oil Discoveries in Recent Times

Abundance of oil reserves is substantiated by immense recent discoveries. However, finds have often been downplayed by big oil companies or purchased by them and not acted upon. As a result, the public has not been aware of their significance.

Current oil reserves in America are estimated to be around 29 billion barrels of oil. The following significant oil discoveries give support to the idea that the world is awash with oil.

• 2006, 15 billion barrels in Gulf of Mexico, a 50% boost to U.S. supplies.


• 2008, 200 billion barrels in North Dakota, boost to U.S. supplies a factor of 10. Initially discovered in 1951 but allowed to go largely "unnoticed".


• 2008, 33 billion barrels in Brazil.


• 2008, 350 billion barrels in Iraq - According to TimesOnline, May 20, 2008, "Iraq could have largest oil reserves in the world"

War Zone Connections to Oil?

Some major oil discoveries in the world have been kept from full productivity by disputes and war started in their regions. Examples of conflict and even genocide during the last twenty years, reveal the little-known oil connection:

• Falkland Islands - 60 billion barrels oil lie under the ocean according to British Geological Survey.


• Kosovo, Albania - 1.5 billion barrels oil, 15 trillion barrels natural gas


• Sudan, Darfur - 6 billion barrels oil


• and of course... Iraq - 350 billion barrels of oil. Today an oil pipeline runs from Iraq to Haifa in Israel.

Proven Reserves versus Unconventional Reserves

Known resources can be divided into proven and prospective or unconventional resources. Though the latter does not consider the replenishment of wells by abiotic means.

Proven reserves - quantities of oil or gas from known reservoirs, expected to be recoverable with current technology and at current economic conditions
Prospective, unconventional resources - recoverable reserves in the future with advanced technologies

According to traditional definition of proven reserves, 65% of global reserves are located in the Middle East and only 9% in the Americas. However, oilism.com say changing the definition of reserves to include prospective, unconventional resources shifts the figures to only 34% for the Middle East and a whopping 36% for the Americas.

Conclusion

The world has been led to believe that oil is scarce and is running out. The "Peak Oil Theory" appears contrived as a scarcity tactic to support high oil prices. The evidence of significant recent oil and gas discoveries seems to point in the exact opposite direction. Russian-Ukrainian abiotic theory suggests oil is always going to remain abundant since the resource is replenished from within the earth ad infinitum. Oil reserve figures (including unconventional resources) for the United States indicate parity with Middle East reserve figures. This begs the question, "Why is the United States at war for oil in Iraq and Afghanistan?"